On Bullies

My old man never taught me how to fight. He never taught me how to hunt. He never taught me how to play poker, smoke cigars, or any of the other macho things that make a man a real man. We never talked about my latest sexual conquest, and we never sat down at a bar to share a brew. We rarely ever even watched TV together.

My father, on the other hand, values compassion, intelligence and respect. He values education, spirituality and community involvement. We talk about religion, theology, philosophy and politics. We enjoy the fellowship of dining out and travel. God knows it’s probably a miracle that I didn’t turn out to be a flaming gay.


To refer to those who are disrupting the civil discourse about the important issues presently before our nation as school yard bullies is legitimate. I recently saw an article about research that speculates that Neanderthals became extinct at the hands of Homo sapiens. To watch what is going on in our society right now existentially refutes such a hypothesis. The rude, the crude, the belligerent are confirming that dinosaurs really do coexist with humans.


Sidney Crane made a practice of beating me up every afternoon after school beginning in the first grade. I didn’t have an old man to teach me how to retaliate; only a father that counseled that an eye-for-an-eye mentality wasn’t in keeping with the peace making that would eventually prevail. One afternoon in the fourth grade, the adrenalin kicked in and I beat the shit out of Sidney. Afterwards, we became friends. Maybe the progressives need to do the same to the neocons so that a rational discourse about the many needs of all Americans can move forward.